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Celebrating 75 years rates at Cortez

Many times you will come in to a casino, go to the keno lounge, and see more than one paybook or brochure with different rates and payoffs. What do we do?

To illustrate this I have chosen tickets for the 4-, 5-, and 6-spot using the El Cortez 75-cent Celebrating 75 years rate and will compare it to their 40-cent rate but played at 80 cents a way to get a reasonably close comparison.

First, for the uninitiated, a catch all ticket is exactly what is written – you must catch ALL of your numbers to be paid. However, the casino pays you a lot more for this solid hit to make up for not paying you anything when you do not catch all your numbers. Let’s get down to figuring out these tickets.

• Catch All 4, pay 75 cents, receive $187.50;

• Catch All 5, pay 75 cents, receive $ 875;

• Catch All 6, pay 75 cents, receive $4,375.

Of course, you can play 75 cents a way and play the 4, 5 and 6 on one ticket playing a grouping of 3-2-1, giving you one of each for a total ticket price of $2.25. If you hit all six numbers you are paid $5,437.50. Easy enough.

If you only catch five numbers and do not catch them by hitting the group of three and the deuce (group of 2) solid there will be no pay for hitting five numbers; and if you do not catch the 3-spot and the king (single number group) you will have nothing to show for the 4-spot. Thus, a huge win or nothing, your choice.

However, by playing more ways we can make things interesting, giving you what appears to be partial pays where you have played more ways to give you more solid 4s, and 5s.

Now let’s see what happens when you hit four numbers or more. Since you are playing Kings any way of getting four numbers or more will result in a solid hit(s). If you hit any four numbers you will have one solid 4-spot and you will walk away with $187.50. But if you hit any five of your numbers you will not only have a solid 5 for $875 but you will also have two solid 4s at $187.50 each for a total pay of $1,250.

Catch all six and you had better ask for a check as the win will be large. You will be paid $4,375 for the solid 6, $875 each for all six solid 5s, and $187.50 each for all 15 solid 4s for a grand total of $15,437.50. Fun, fun, fun!

Now while you are playing may I suggest visiting Siegel’s at the El Cortez for an excellent meal. I had their $18 Salmon, which came with wild rice and sauteed spinach. It was well prepared and very tasty, thus for about $25-$27 including a non-alcoholic beverage, tax and tip you can order a very healthy dinner.

They also have other excellent entries for a lot less than you might pay at other hotels. Try it, you’ll like it!

Of course, if you want to go for the big money, as of this writing the Mega10 Megakeno 10-spot progressive is at $2,379,000 and rising; the 9-spot is at $306,000 and rising and the 8-spot is at $90,000 and rising. Ticket price is $1.50. The El Cortez is one of two downtown casinos that offer MegaKeno.

Remember to show your slot card when playing keno at the El Cortez which is currently giving five times points for keno play!

Next column I will cover the same type of ticket played at 80 cents per way using the 40-cent rate. The pay for the biggest hit will be less but some of the intermediate hits are good as well.